THE Design at this Time is, to press as many as will be perswaded, into the Service of a great King, whose Name is Venerable. And that we may all now become the willing People of a Lord, who will accept of none but such, Behold, what that Service will bring us to. I show unto you the Encouragement, which the King of Glory gives un­to all His faithful Servants. You are now in­formed and assured from the Glorious Lord, That you shall be with Him; which is to say, That you shall be in a state of Blessedness: Yea, and in that state, there will be astonishing Ho­nours, which the FATHER of our SAVIOUR shall concur with Him, in bestowing upon you.

[Page 2] Our SAVIOUR was told by some of His Disciples, That there were some Gentiles desirous of a private Admission unto Him. Upon this Occasion our SAVIOUR foresees the speedy Approach of the Hour, when he should be glo­rified among the Gentiles; and see a surrogate Israel. But at the same Time, He declares the unex­pected way, in which He must arrive to this Glorification; the strange and black Preliminary that must lead unto it. It must be, by Death; even by Death; As a Grain of Corn must lie for Dead in the Earth, before it fructifies. Our SAVIOUR having foretold what was to be His own Condition, He foretels, what must also be the Condition of them that will serve Him; He forewarns them to expect a Conformity to Him, in Sufferings, preparatory to the Bessedness wherein He will have them to be associated with Him. Hard Lines! Dark Strokes! No Man serve our Lord JESUS CHRIST, or hope to be with Him, unless he be willing to Die like Him, to Die for Him! Flesh and Blood; What wilt thou say to This!—To fortify His Followers, our SAVIOUR now tells them, what will be the Consequence, and what will be done for them. This particularly, That His Father will put wonderful Honours upon them. And this is the DOCTRINE which is now to animate us in the ways of our GOD.

Wonderful, wonderful, will be the Honours, which the True Servants of our SAVIOUR, will find His Eternal FATHER to bestow upon them.

[Page 3] The Glorious FATHER of our Great Savi­our, will honour them, who faithfully serve the Son of His Love.

I. You shall have set before you, in the first place, the Character of those who stand Candidates for Happiness. They are the True SERVANTS of our SAVIOUR. They must serve me, saith our SAVIOUR.

But let us enquire, Who are the True Servants of our SAVIOUR? And let us attempt a De­scription of them: For, Happy are thy Men, Hap­py are thy Servants, that stand continually before thee, O our SAVIOUR. It may in general be said, All the Servants of our SAVIOUR, are to be known by that Motto, Phil. I. 21. To me to live is CHRIST. CHRIST is He whom they live unto. CHRIST is He whom they live upon. A CHRIST is the Fountain of Life unto them all.

But we must' be more particular.

Now, First; You may be sure, The Servants of our SAVIOUR must be such as Believe on Him. 'Tis the Term for a Believer, 1 Cor. VII. 22. He is the Servant of CHRIST. A Faith in our SAVIOUR is a Necessary Introduction unto the serving of Him. No Man can become a Ser­vant of our SAVIOUR, without believing Him to be, what His Gospel has revealed Him to be, and without believing on him for all the Good which His Gospel has promised unto His Peo­ple. [Page 4]Every Servant of our SAVIOUR, is in­expressibly affected with the Glory of His Person, and with the Truth of His exceeding great and precious Promises; and accordingly closes with Him. The very first Thing in becoming a Ser­vant of our SAVIOUR is, to see and say, O my SAVIOUR, Thou art no less than the CHRIST, the Son of the Living GOD; and all the Blessings of Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctifying and Re­demption are to be expected from thee alone; And for all these I come unto thee, as unto my only SA­VIOUR: With a perishing and a distressed Soul, I come unto thee.

We will go on to say, Secondly; The Ser­vants of our SAVIOUR, are such as attend upon Him, for all that must bring them to live unto God. Our SAVIOUR has no Servants, but those Regenerate ones, who have a new Biass upon their Minds, disposing them to live not unto Themselves but unto GOD; and find that in GOD, which they have heretofore, sought in Idols. Now the Servants of our SAVIOUR, have their Eyes unto Him, that He may do all that is needful for their living unto GOD. Their Address to Him is that; Psal. CXXIII. 2. Be­hold, As the Eyes of Servants look to the Hand of their Masters, so our Eyes are upon the Lord our God, until that He have mercy on us. That we may live unto GOD it is required, that we be Recon­ciled unto Him, and that the Sentence of Death, which His violated Law has passed upon us, [Page 5]may be taken off. The Servants of our SAVI­OUR look to Him for this; and thus hope in Him; O my SAVIOUR, Let thy SACRIFICE be the Expiation of my Sin, and my Reconciliation to GOD, whom I have offended by my Sin. That we may live unto GOD, it is requisite, that we be directed from above. The Servants of our SAVI­OUR look to Him for this Direction, and so call on Him, O Lord, shew me thy Ways, teach me thy Paths. That we may live unto GOD, it is requisite, that we be assisted from above. The Servants of our SAVIOUR look to Him for this Assistance; and so lean on Him, I can do all things thro' CHRIST who strengthens me.

Thirdly. The Servants of our SAVIOUR, are such as make it their Study to yield an universal and perpetual Obedience unto Him. Our SAVI­OUR demands it of all that would serve Him; Matth. XI. 29. Take my Yoke upon you. The Golden Yoke which our SAVIOUR will have all that serve Him, to take upon them, is that Mo­ral Law, the Sum whereof is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy Heart, and, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self. Our SAVIOUR having delivered us from the Curse, to which the Law condemns us for our Breaches of it, now requires us to make this Law the Rule of our Life, and endeavour the most exact Obedience to it, and Condemn, and Humble and Abase our selves, when we fall short of Exactness in our Obedience. This endeavour after the most [Page 6]consummate Obedience to the Law, is to be our Expression of our Thankfulness to our SAVIOUR, for His Redeeming us from the Curse of the Law, and Rescuing us into a better Covenant. The Ten Commandments are now the Command­ments of our SAVIOUR; and by becoming His, we Establish the Law. Accordingly, if we would approve our selves the Servants of our SAVIOUR, we must sincerely intend and pur­sue, a full Obedience to all of His Commandments. The Servants of our SAVIOUR, labour to know the Duty, which He demands from them; and they say, Lord, What wilt thou have me to do? They labour to do all that they know to be their Duty; and they say, Lord, I count all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way. They lament it as their Misery, when­ever they Sin against the Law of CHRIST. They can say, His Commandments are not grievous. But it is their Grief, that His Commandments are no better obeyed with them. In the whole Course of their Life, they aim at Obedience unto their SA­VIOUR. Yea, in all the Work of their Life, this is their Aim. Even the Work of their Tem­poral Calling, the Work of their Secular Business, is done upon this Intention; 'Tis the Work which my SAVIOUR has assigned unto me! Their SAVI­OUR is obey'd, in the most common Actions, which their Hand finds to do. Obedience to Him, is the Life of their Hand, in the doing of them.

[Page 7] Fourthly. The Servants of our SAVIOUR, are such as chuse it, and make it, their Main Concern, to bear Testimonies unto His Truths, & His Ways, and therein to Glorify Him. We have the Servants of our SAVIOUR, so spoken of, and spoken to; Isa. XLIII. 10. Ye are my Wit­nesses, saith the Lord, and my Servants whom I have chosen. The Thing whereto these Witnesses of the Lord are called, is that which is called, A confessing of our SAVIOUR, and, A shewing forth of His Praises. The Servants of our SAVIOUR, have their Souls enamoured on this Employment, this rare Employment, this high Employment; and they most heartily say upon it, This is all my Salvation, and all my Desire. They would in all possible Methods Testify, That their SAVI­OUR is the Lord of Glory; That His Truths are Faithful Sayings, and worthy of all Acceptation; That His Ways are pleasant ones, and all His Paths are Peace. Yea, they would fill their Lives with such Testimonies. And they would make it the chief End of their Life to bear such Testimo­nies. The Breathings of their very Souls with­in them, are, O that I may cause the Name of my dear SAVIOUR, to be honourably thought of! To this End, their Souls do exceedingly breath after this; O that I may evermore set my Seal, unto all the Truths which my SAVIOUR has betrusted and enriched His Church withal. Their Souls do ve­hemently breathe after this; O that I may ever­more give and show my Approbation of the Ways which [Page 8]my SAVIOUR has prescribed as Holy and Just and Good. They would Live, yea, they would also Die for the bearing of such Testimonies to the Cause of our SAVIOUR.

Fifthly. The Servants of our SAVIOUR, are such as make a free, a full, an everlasting Resig­nation of themselves and their All, unto Him. Concerning the Servants of our SAVIOUR, there has been this Account given; 2 Cor. VIII. 5. They have given themselves unto the Lord. Ask them, Whose are you? Every one of them will reply with all the Alacrity imaginable, I am the Lord's! The Servants of our SAVIOUR, do in the most Voluntary manner, consent and resolve to be His, and make a Dedication of themselves unto Him, for all that Service, which it may please Him to use them in. Coming in­to the Covenant of GOD, they then sign Inden­tures for the Service of their SAVIOUR. Upon this, they become desirous, to be entirely the Lord's, and have their All used in what Service He will have it put unto; and they comply with that Call; Ye are bought with a Price; there­fore Glorify GOD in your Bodie, and in your Spirit, which belong to GOD. Yea, not only for the Application of their Bodies, and of their Spirits, to the Service of their SAVIOUR, but in apply­ing their Possessions also unto it, they become, A People of Free-will offerings. As their Voice is, CHRIST is my All, so their Voice is, CHRIST shall have my All. But will they ever grow wea­ry [Page 9]of the Service? No; They all say, I love my Master, and I will not go out from him; so they have their Ears bored for a Service, which is all Delight unto them; All, a Delight in GOD.

Sixthly. the Servants of our SAVIOUR are such as appear in His Cause, and for the Defence of His Kingdom, in the World. It was of old cried out; Exod. XXXII. 26. Who is on the Lords side? And it is a Distinction to be made, in every Generation. Upon this, the Servants of our SAVIOUR, gather themselves unto Him; and say unto their Father, and unto their Mother, I have not seen them; neither do they acknowledge their Brethren, nor know their own Children. The Cause of PIETY, is the Cause of our SAVIOUR; so far as PIETY prevails, the Kingdom of our SAVIOUR advances, & flourishes. The Servants of our SAVIOUR will still appear in the De­fence of PIETY Our SAVIOUR has His Ene­mies in the World. The Enemies of PIETY are the Enemies of our SAVIOUR. They make Hostile Invasions on His Kingdom; which lies in Righteousness. The Servants of our SAVIOUR will still appear against these Enemies. They are Souldiers for Him; Listed under His Banners; having His Marh on their Foreheads. They will openly assert His Interest, and oppose the Adversaries thereof, and venture ther All in do­ing so: Not love their Lives unto the Death.

Seventhly. The Servants of our SAVIOUR are such as have no Will of their own; such as [Page 10]are entirely governed by the Will of their SA­VIOUR; entirely at His Dispose. This is what Servants must come to! This is the Language always heard from the Servants of our SAVIOUR; Act. XXI. 14. The Will of the Lord be done. The Servants of our SAVIOUR, are willing to Do, all those things, whereof it may be said, This is the Will of God in CHRIST Jesus concerning you. The Things may be Hard Sayings, and their carnal Mind rise up in Rebellion a­gainst the Things, and they feel a rebellious Will stirring in themselves; yet they conform to the Will of their SAVIOUR, and mortify and extinguish their own. Yea, If it be the Will of their SAVIOUR, that they should suffer uncom­fortable Things, here they yield a profound Submission to His Will. They have learn'd in whatever state they are, to be content, with the Will of their SAVIOUR; content with what state the Will of their SAVIOUR shall order for them. They Sacrifice All to the Will of their SAVI­OUR; All their Enjoyments are bound unto the Horns of the Altar, standing ready to be sacri­ficed. They still say, O my SAVIOUR, Not my Will, but thy Will be done! And this compliance with the Will of their SAVIOUR, is very par­ticularly conspicuous, in their submitting to Death, in the Time and in the Way, which our SAVIOUR shall appoint, when He will have no further Service from them. When the Ser­vants of our SAVIOUR have that Order from [Page 11]Him, Go up, and die!— 'tis without much Re­luctancy complied withal: They say, O Thou Lord of my Life, if I have no more to do for thee, I am willing to die, and with a Love strong as Death, go thro' the dark valley of the shadow of Death, to come unto thee! These, these are the Servants of the Lord.

Oh! That you would Examine your selves; Am I one of these? How far do I answer this Cha­racter? This I will say; Behold, Are ye the Ser­vants of the Lord, O you who this Day stand in the House of the Lord? Then, Bless the Lord. For, The Lord who made Heaven and Earth will bless you out of Zion, and bring you into Zion, and no­thing in Heaven or Earth proper for you, shall be denied unto you.

II. But this is what is in the second place to be set before you; even the Happiness of those who come up to this Character. Wonderful, wonderful the Honours, which the true Servants of our SAVIOUR shall receive of His Eternal FATHER. My Father will honour them, saith our SAVIOUR.

But let us Enquire, What are the HONOURS, which GOD will bestow upon the Servants of our SAVIOUR?

Now, We might supersede all further An­swer, with such a general one as that; 1 Cor. II. 9. Eye hath not seen, nor Ear heard, neither hath entred into the Heart of Man, the things which GOD [Page 12]hath prepared for them that love Him. The Honours prepared for them that serve our SAVIOUR; O unutterable Honours! O inconceivable Honours! O Things far beyond all that we can ask or think!

We will make one prefatory Remark on the Honours, which GOD will bestow upon the Ser­vants of our SAVIOUR; They will be such Honours, and so bestow'd, that the Glorious GOD Himself shall be honoured in them. There is a Difference between those two; Joh. XII. 43. The praise of Men, and, The praise of GOD. The most of Men, if they honour us, and admire us, and applaud us, they terminate in the Creature; they look no further than us; GOD has not His Praises on the Occasion; GOD, without whom, and before whom, we are Nothing, is not Remembred. All comes to Nothing, in Remem­brances of none but Ashes! A sacrilegious Idolatry is committed. A true Servant of our SAVIOUR, even deprecates it as an Infelicity, to be made the Object in this Idolatry. He had rather be left un­considered, in the World. Yea, when he meets with Indignities from an ungodly Generation, it sweetens them unto him, to think, I am deliver­ed from the Danger of being made an Idol among the Robbers of GOD. Yea, Oh! why should we not press after the high Flight of Nierembergius, who writes at this rate; Lord, I had rather, could it be without Sin, that all should hate me, than that they should love me for my self. If all the World hate [Page 13]me, I should have but what is Mine. If they should love me for my self, they would usurp what is Thine. This I will say, A true Servant of CHRIST will be lothe to receive any Honours, of which he cannot see, that GOD and His CHRIST is honoured in them. Such Dispositions may be de­rided as fanciful & whimsical Extasies, But, O my Soul, do thou press after them, and rest not until thou arrive to more Perfection in them!

But, the Honours to be bestow'd on the Ser­vants of our SAVIOUR, are such as come from GOD. Surely then, they will also lead to GOD. GOD will have His Honours wondrously secured, expressed, observed in them. In short therefore; The Honours will be Blessings wherein the Love of GOD unto the Servants of our SAVIOUR will be manifested. The Glorious GOD says unto the Servants of our SAVIOUR, as in Rev. III. 9. I will make them to know, that I have loved thee. The Honours to be bestow'd on them, will be in the Tokens of His Love, which a Gracious GOD will comfort them, and enrich them, and adorn them withal.

But let the matter extend into a little more of Particularity. We shall be told, what shall be done to the Man, whom the FATHER of our SAVIOUR delights to Honour.

First; O ye Servants of an incomparable SA­VIOUR; I am sure, you count it the greatest of Honours, to be the Servants of such a SAVI­OUR. No Dignity, No Preferment, on Earth, to [Page 14]be compared unto this! Will the Glorious GOD accept you to serve the King whom He hath placed on His Throne; and employ you in the Service of Him, that is the King of Kings and the Lord of all? I am sure, you will say, This is Honour enough! My Ambition cannot soar higher than such an Honour as this! How can you judge otherwise, when you call to mind, who are your Fellow-servants? I will not mention such Worms of the Dust, as the Roman Emperours, who have subscribed themselves, The Vassals of the Lord JE­SUS CHRIST. They shall vanish before the Prin­ces whom I am going to speak of. The Bright Angels in the Heavenly World, all count it their Honour, to be the Servants of our JESUS on the Throne of GOD, and with Triumphs in it, be­come your Fellow-servants. The least of those Mighty Ones, is greater than the greatest Mo­narchs on our little Globe; And of these Mighty Ones how many Myriads are there, to whom you make those Acclamations in your serving of your SAVIOUR! Psal. CIII. 20, 21. O ye His Angels, vast in strength, Bless ye th' ETERNAL God; who do His Word, that so the Voice of His Word may be heard. O Bless ye the ETERNAL God, All ye His Marshall'd Hosts; Ye Ministers who Ex­ecute His Will made known to you! Oh! How ho­noured the Men, who have Angels for their Com­panions! Ye Servants of our SAVIOUR, Ye are come, Oh! how welcom!— to the Myriads of Angels, that fly about the City of God!

[Page 15] Pertinently upon this, will come in a second Satisfaction; While you are the Servants of your SAVIOUR, the Angels of your SAVIOUR will be your Guardians. You no sooner come into the Service of your SAVIOUR, but, Lo, The Morning Stars do sing together, and the Sons of God shout for Joy. They are glad of your coming be be so associated with them; and they gladly come into a Ministry for you. To all the Ser­vants of our SAVIOUR, there belongs that Priviledge; Psal. XCI. 11. He shall give His An­gels charge over thee. O Transcendent Honour! The meanest among the Servants of our SAVI­OUR, has this Honour; An Angel of GOD at­tends him, and befriends him; does unknown good Offices for him. This Honour have all the Saints.

If this ben't enough, take a Third Satisfacti­on. The FATHER of our SAVIOUR bestows this Honour on them that serve Him; He will be their Father too. The Servants of our SAVI­OUR, are all of them, the Children of GOD. Ye are my Sons and my Daughters, faith the Lord Almighty! And now, seemeth it a light thing unto you, to be the Children of that Infinite GOD who is the most high Possessor of Heaven and Earth! Children, who shall be Heirs of an Infinite GOD, and therefore shall inherit all things! O ye Ser­vants of our SAVIOUR, Fall into that agreeable Rapture; 1 Joh. III. 1. Behold, what manner of Love, the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should [Page 16]be called the Children of God! Will GOD the FA­THER put Honour upon them that serve our SAVIOUR? GOD the SPIRIT will do so too; and this Honour does also proceed from the FATHER.

Behold, a Fourth Satisfaction! The Servants of our SAVIOUR, are all of them, the Temples of the Holy SPIRIT. Unto such it is said, 1 Cor. III. 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of GOD, and the Spirit of GOD dwelleth in you? Oh! What an Honour have you now a prospect of! This Honour, Know ye not, that that if you are the Servants of our SAVIOUR, you are the Tem­ples of GOD? His Holy SPIRIT will say, Here will I dwell, for I have desired it! The Holy SPI­RIT will make you the Excellent in the Earth; more Excellent than the most Illustrious Temples of a Solomon or a Justinian; The Houses of His Glory, and glorified in being filled with His Glory.

The Articles of Honour will keep growing on our Hands. Let this go for a Fifth of them. A precious Esteem with the Best of Men, is an Ho­nour which they that serve the Best of Lords, are no strangers to. A Good Name does belong to them; A Good Name, which is better than precious Ointment; A Good Name, which is rather to be chosen than great Riches. He was not in the wrong, who gave this Definition of Honour; 'Tis a good Esteem with good Men for good Things. The Ser­vants of our SAVIOUR, take the right Path to this Honour; and it may be said of them, as [Page 17]in Heb. XI. 2. They obtain a good Report. It was by David thought an Honour; Let those that fear thee, turn to me. It was by Paul thought an Ho­nour; That my Service may be accepted of the Saints. This Honour is granted unto the Servants of our SAVIOUR; They are, as we read Mordecai was, Accepted of the Multitude of their Brethren. And, if they are Persons of greater Eminency for their Diligence, their Faithfulness, their Useful­ness, the more Eminent often does GOD make them in their Esteem among His People. If thro' the Displeasure of GOD against a People that must be denied the Benefit of their Talents; or if thro' Folly and Faction and Envy prevailing in those who should be wiser, they may at any time want Acceptance; This will be no Real Di­minution of their true Honour, or a just Esteem among those who are most capable to put Ho­nour upon Goodness. And therewithal, they have the Honour of having may Prayers made for them, among the People of GOD. Yea, They may come to have a Great Name, as well as a Good Name: It may be, A Name among the Great Men of the Earth, is granted unto them. And as they Live Desired, so they Die Lamented. We read of one, All did him Honour at his Death. We read of another; They buried him honourably, because he had done good in Israel. We read of a Third, They Lamented him, and continued long to speak of him in their Lamentations. The Memory of these Just Ones, GOD makes it better than what has been [Page 18]often called by flattering Survivers, A blessed Memory.

Thus Honoured are the [...]ants of our SAVI­OUR, among the true Citizens of Zion, who Honour them that fear the Lord. But what if a­mong Vile Persons they are Contemned? Even this also shall go among the Articles of their Honour.

I will say, Sixthly; The Servants of our SA­VIOUR, often have the Honour to be vilified by the vilest of Men; and by those who exalt none so much as the vilest of Men. Enquire of your Athanasius's and your Luthers and your Cal­vins, and all great Reformers, if it be not so. There is a sort of People, whose Ill Will, and Ill Word, is an Honour to those whom it falls up­on; 'Tis a Disgrace unto a Man, and it brings a Suspicion upon his Innocency [ Quid mali feci?] to be in the good Graces of such evil Men. We read concerning some Servants of our SAVI­OUR; Act. V. 41. They rejoiced, that they were counted worthy of the Honour, to suffer Shame for His Name. The Servants of our SAVIOUR, shall have the Honour of Reproaches, and Calumnies, and Obloquies, from those wretched People, who have that Brand upon them, The Haters of GOD. And some Servants of our SAVIOUR, who are in Labours more abundant, often have a notable Ex­periment of it, That when they have been upon some special Service of the Lord, the Devil (who has a most inveterate Hatred, where he sees a CHRIST most Honoured, and studied and re­sembled; [Page 19]and who has a marvellous Energy on the Minds of a multitude; I say, To give him his Due, — the Devil) in some odd and strange Occurrences, that one could hardly have dreamt of, raises a Storm of Obloquies upon them; a Storm of silly, senseless, wretched Slanders upon them; diffused it may be all a foolish Country over. The Men of GOD, are but Honoured, in all the Venom, that Satan and his Instruments may spit upon them.

All this while, I feel my self still in this World. The last Article is enough to render the proof of that very sensible! But then, lastly, Let us get for­wards, into the World to come. There, there, will be Honours indeed; Oh! what Honours!— be­stowed on the Servants of our SAVIOUR; Eternal Honours bestowed by His Eternal FA­THER! The Honours wherein that Promise will be accomplished; Rev. II. 10. Be thou faithful unto Death, and I will give thee a Crown of Life. O unfainting Servants of your SAVIOUR; Was there ever any Honour upon Earth, to be com­pared unto what you shall receive, when you shall at your Departure, find a kind Reception with your Almighty SAVIOUR, and being by His Angels, presented Faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding Joy, hear Him saying to you, Well done, good and faithful Servant; enter into thy Masters Joy! But then, can you comprehend, what will be your Honours, when your SAVI­OUR shall come, to be Glorified in His Saints, and [Page 20]to be admired in all them that believe! What your Honours, when the Day of Judgment shall arrive, wherein the Book of Remembrance will be opened, and all the Service you have done for your SA­VIOUR will be Remembred and Rewarded! What your Honours, when you shall be Kings and Priests unto GOD, and have Power over Nations given you! What your Honours, when you shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of your Father, and you shall be filled with all the fulness of GOD!— All Words are here swallowed up! O Incom­prehensible Happiness; O Honours, infinitely be­yond every Thing here below! Honours, where­with Batoons, and Sceptres themselves laid in the Ballance, are but Baubles, and Lighter than Va­nity.

III. But methinks, There should be made a brief Touch upon one Enquiry more; Who is the Fountain of these Honours? 'Tis the FATHER of our SAVIOUR. And why does our SAVI­OUR speak of His FATHER, as concerned in the Honours bestowed upon them that serve Him? Truly, The Love of the FATHER to our SA­VIOUR, 'tis Infinite, Infinite! He has once and again proclaimed it, This is my beloved SON. He is called, Col. I. 13. The Son of His Love. Such, I tell you truly, such is the Love of the Almigh­ty FATHER to the Person, who is the Bright­ness of His Glory, and the express Image of His Person, that He will infinitely plague them that hate Him. [Page 21]And when they that are Baptized into His Name, shall be in a Conspiracy, to Dethrone Him, De­grade Him, Ungod Him, 'tis impossible to give a more Bitter Provocation to His Majesty. Verily, It provokes a Wrath unto the uttermost. O our un­happy Mother, we are Mourning, we are Trembling for thee!— On the other hand, What will He do for them whom His Love does constrain to serve Him? O become the Servants of your SAVIOUR; 'Tis to serve the SON of GOD, and a SON Infinitely Dear unto Him; Infinite­ly more Dear than all other Beings. What a Re­compence will His FATHER give to them that serve Him? To do Service for your SAVIOUR, is to put Honour on Him. Honour, Honour, shall be the Recompence. With Honour from His FA­THER, shall it be Retaliated. If you will serve Him, you must undergo much Dishonour among His Adversaries: They shall say all manner of Evil against you falsly for my sake, faith our SAVIOUR. An Honour from His FATHER will be your Compensation. 'Tis what His Dear SON, has desi­red for you; His Intercession has demanded it; FA­THER, I will that they have Glory, says our SA­VIOUR. And, Him the FATHER heareth al­ways.

And now comes the Conclusion of the Mat­ter.

But what can this be any other, than an Ir­resistible Demand upon the whole Auditory? Oh! Become the true Servants of the Lord JE­SUS [Page 22]CHRIST; Come Immediately into the Service of your SAVIOUR. Despise not, Refuse not, the Honours, which the FATHER of your SAVIOUR has to bestow upon them that serve Him. Don't bespeak for your selves that Shame and Everlasting Contempt, which is to be the Por­tion of the Wicked.

The Proposal is now made; Josh. XXIV. 15. Chuse you this Day, whom you will serve. But, Oh! Make a wise Choice; A Choice which a Dying Man would abide by. As for the other Lords, which have had Dominion over you, Abhor their Sor­vice, Renounce their Service, Abandon their cursed Service. But, O Embrace the Service of your Lovely SAVIOUR; And Bind your selves unto it; Bind your selves as fast as ever you can; and with the Firmest, but yet the Humblest Pur­poses. Bind your selves in those Terms; Psal. CXVI. 16. Truly, O Lord, I am thy Servant, I am thy Servant.

Having done this, Then contrive what you can, how to make your All Serviceable unto the Interests of your SAVIOUR. And often pon­der on that Noble Question, What Service may I do for my Admirable SAVIOUR?

Thus Engage, Embark in a Service, which never yet any one Repented of!

But then, If such as These may be judged, [And most certainly, a Good Judgement will pro­nounce them so!] The Words of the Wise, May they be as Goads, and come with a singular [Page 23] Pungency and Cogenoy unto the Candidates of the Ministry rising as the Hopes of the Flocks among us!

O you whose Friends have set you apart for the Service of your SAVIOUR in the Work of the Gospel; Be perswaded Betimes to Consecrate your selves unto it; and come into this Resolu­tion; O my SAVIOUR, To serve Thee, shall be the Chief End, and the Grand Work of my Life! Come into this Disposition; To be a Servant of a Glorious CHRIST, shall be the very Top of my Am­bition! This Disposition; If a Glorious CHRIST will please to accept of Service from me, This is the highest Advancement that I can be Ambitious of! Be continually full of Projections, what Service you can do for a Glorious LORD. If any Thing ap­pear to you a Service for that Glorious LORD, and for His Kingdom, wait not for any further Motive, to bespeak your Industrious and Coura­geous coming into it. Be armed against all the Discouragements, and all the Difficulties, and all the Temptations, which Fidelity in that Service will certainly expose you to. Th [...] you are certain, That whenever you attempt any signal Service for your LORD, you shall presently find some notable Humiliation ordered for you, yet with a true Spirit of Martyrdom go valiantly thorough all, that you have before you. [ The Lord is with thee, thou mighty Man of Valour!] Be arm'd in a View of the Honours, which the FATHER of your SAVIOUR will one Day bring you to! If [Page 24]any have been Ordain'd, before they have had this PIETY flaming in them, let it at least fol­low, what it should precede: And let them Read, what Bernard writes unto Ardutius!

If the Glorious GOD of your Life shall order it, that a Premature Death, shall prevent the Service you intend for Him, He will accept your willing Mind; and reserve Inexpressible Opportunities for you in that Heavenly World, where tho' the Saints rest from their Labours, yet we read, They rest not from the Praises of the Lord. It is not a place or state of Idleness; every one has his Work there assign'd unto him.

A promising STEVENS, and HOLBROKE, and PIERPONT, and THOMPSON, and some others, may thus take the Wings of the Morning, and in the Morning of their Youth, take their Flight unto the Blissful Regions. But if they and their short-liv'd Brethren might speak from thence, they would certainly say unto us, O serve the Glorious LORD, and never count any Service too much to be done for Him. No Man shall be a Loser by any Service he does for Him! 'Tis impossible for any one to make too early a Dedication of himself unto the Service of this Glorious LORD. All the Labours, and all the Sorrows, and all the sad Things, which must be undergone in the Service, are abundantly Re­compensed in this Glorious World. One Hour here makes amends for all.

In the mean time, we will greatly Lament the Loss therein sustained by our Churches, and the [Page 25]Dark Signs of the Times, in such Eclipses. Yea, we will speak of them in our Lamentations. It would be a worse than a Stoical Apathy to do otherwise.

Among those who have begun to do some Service for our Glorious LORD, and have been singularly Furnished for it, but might not be suffered to continue in it by reason of Death, I know not why a Modest Commemoration may not be allow'd unto Mr. THOMAS WALTER; Who had not passed Four times Seven Years of a Pilgrimage, before a Period unto all Prospect of any further Service from him here, is hastened upon him.

I am not without Apprehension, that it may be some small Service unto the Best Interests, for me to take a brief Notice of something that may render his Memory Valuable, and something that may render it Profitable, to us.

The former part of his Life,—I pass o­ver in Silence: But something that occurr'd in the Close of it, may be not altogether unworthy of some Notice with us.

After such un Uncommon Symptom of Merit in him, as his being Ordained by his Venerable Grandfather, and Installed a Collegue with his De­sirable Father, in the Pastoral Care of a precious Flock, who for their Generous Love unto their Ministers, have set an Example to all the Churches in the Country; he soon gave Demonstrations of those Rare Abilities, which exceedingly Distin­guished [Page 26]him. [So Young Austin becomes a Col­legue to Old Valerius in his Bishoprick!]

But that which makes him deserve to be re­membred with the more Honour among us, is, That his Heart was fixed in his Purposes and Endeavours to employ all those Bright Abilities in the Service of CHRIST and for the Churches of This Country.

He was a strong Champion for those Doctrines of Grace, in which those Churches have been esta­blished; And a great Reader of the Books which assert those Doctrines; among which those of a Judicious OWEN had a special Relish with him; ever Lamenting, ever Confuting, the Things which he saw tending to Corrupt the young Minds of those that are under a Designation to feed the Flocks in the high Mountains of Israel.

To which I must add, That his faithful and steady Adherence to the Puritan Principles of Instituted Worship, and— What saith the Scrip­ture?—was very considerable; when Tempta­tions of, I know not what Glory, to desert them, could not seduce him to an Infamous Apostasy.

His Ministry was notably calculated for THIS, above all Intentions; That a Glorious CHRIT may in the whole System and Business of the Christian Religion, be duly Acknowledged, and have a due Homage paid unto Him. And he pressed this Advice upon some Candidates of the Ministry, with whom he was acquainted; Preach CHRIST, my Friend, Preach CHRIST, as [Page 27]much as ever you can. And the FATHER of our Glorious LORD, has put this Honour upon Him, that many of His People have expressed an Ex­traordinany Esteem for him; And more than Two or Three of his Acute Composures have been pub­lished. On the Last of these, I may make this Remark; That tho' it be composed with a great strength of Ratiocination, and be embellished with more than a little Erudition, yet he wrote with his own Hand, in a manner nothing of it: But Languishing under much Pain, and such Weakness as kept him on his Bed continually, it was all written from his Mouth, by the Pen of a beloved Friend, unto whom he dictated. A Specimen This, of those Intellectual Powers in him, which if he had lived, would have anon brought him into the Number of the famous Gualterus's and Waltherus's, that make a Figure in the Ca­talogue of Literators. And yet, these Powers were always beautified and varnished with a conspicuous Modesty in him, which caused him to assume unto himself no more, than if he had been, as Tertullian of old, (in imitation of the Apostles Elegancy, in his Elachistoteros) elegant­ly called himself, Omnium Postremissimus.

But that wherein I most propose the Edifi­cation of the Survivors, is a short Account of the LAST HOURS that passed over him.

The Thomas Gualterus Tabifico Morbo extinctus, mention'd by Bartholinus, he must now be a Companion to. He lay many Months Languish­ing [Page 28]of that English Disease, a Consumption: Where­in he over and over again went thorough that Process of Repentance, in which he made his just Reflections on all the Errors of a Vain Youth, which a disadvantageously Good Temper might have betray'd him to: Often saying, I have been a wretched Fool; the greatest Fool in the World! And he underwent the saving Work of the Holy SPIRIT in Repetitions of it; First exceedingly Convincing and Abasing of him; then shewing him the Remedy provided for him in a SAVI­OUR, and helping him to make his Flight un­to it; and causing him thereupon to grow in his confirmed Resolutions to live unto GOD.

The Repetitions of these Operations, did not hinder it, but that on the Day before he died, he had a Soul wonderfully distressed with Fears of his Miscarrying at the last: Saying, Oh! 'Tis a great Thing to Die!— Under these Distresses he importunately call'd for the Instructions and Assistances of One for whom he had some De­ference; Who, in Conjunction with his Father, again set before him the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed GOD, which he had himself preached unto others. What passed shall not be now re­lated; only one or two Passages it may not be amiss to mention. When it was urged upon him; ‘You have been a notable Disputant in your Time; what they call a Logician: you have un­derstood an Argument. I pray, what will you make of this Argument? The Proposition is; Our [Page 29]Glorious LORD, the true Witness, who delivereth Souls, hath solemnly declared, HIM THAT COMES UNTO ME, I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT. Your Assumption is; But I come unto Him; and heartily and earnestly Beg of Him, and would Hope in Him, to do for me and on me, every thing that He does to them that come unto Him. Now the Conclusion;— Therefore I fear that He will not Receive me, but cast me off! Is this a Right Con­clusion? Did you use to Argue so?’ His Answer was, I find I have a Busy Adversary; And he would make this perverse Conclusion for me!—

His Father then came upon his Unbelief with such victorious and overwhelming Remonstran­ces; ‘My dear Son, Were our SAVIOUR visi­bly here, as once in the Days of His Humilia­tion, and should you go prostrate your self before Him, and beseech of Him to have Com­passion on you, and give you an Heart to Love Him, can you imagine, that He would Reject you? Now, what a strange thing is this Un­belief: to be discouraged from That which car­ries an infinite Encouragement in it! As if His Power and Goodness, or our Access to Him were the less for His being on the Throne of His Glory.’ This also removed not the Desponden­cies. But the Servants of GOD, (whereof there were more than Two or Three) in the Chamber, then joined in pouring out Supplications for him, That the Comforter who should relieve his Soul, might not be far from him; and that he [Page 30]might be filled with Peace and Joy in Believing; and that he might finish well, and with such Tri­umphs over the Last Enemy, as might Revive those who were now praying for him, and en­tertain the People of GOD.

From This Hour (It was now Saturday-noon) Satisfactions and Consolations continually grew up­on him. He said, when some of us parted with him, If I perish, I will perish in the Hands of my SAVIOUR: And, tho' He slay me, I will trust in Him! His Fears were anon swallowed up in the Hopes, of a Glory now prepared for him: Yea, in the Joys of a Salvation which he had after a suitable Agony, gain'd the Assurance of. He now longed for his Departure, to be with CHRIST. He kept saying, (as his admired Calvin before him) How long, Lord, How long? Oh! Come quickly! And, Why is His Chariot so long a coming; Why tarry the Wheels of His Chariot? But then, he asked, whether he did well, in longing so much to be gone?

He said, I shall be the most Glorious Instance of Sovereign Grace in all Heaven! And he added, I have no more to do here; but I shall Serve and Glo­rify CHRIST to all Eternity! And then, Lord, Now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace.

He laid mighty Charges on some Young Persons that were near him; ‘To fear GOD, and prize His CHRIST Betimes; and by no means to de­lay Repentance one Day longer: For the longer they delay'd it, the more Backward they would [Page 31]find themselves unto it. He said; They might think, that for them to engage in the Ways of PIETY, would be to abandon all Joy and Pleasure; but this is a great Mistake: Let them try the Practice of it, and it will never be Re­pented of.’

When the Morning of the Lords Day [Jan. 10.] arrived, he expressed an Expectation, that He should be That Day in Paradise. His Father told him, ‘I am going to the House of GOD, which is the Gate of Heaven; but I hope, You are go­ing to Heaven it self, to join with the Assembly Above.’ He replied, O! I love that Glorious Church! His Father added, ‘I am going also to the Ta­ble of the Lord; but I hope, You are going to Drink of the Fruit of the Vine New with CHRIST in the Kingdom of his Father.’ He replied, O! And without Price! At Noon, his Father going to the Afternoon Service, and supposing that he should not (as he did not) see him any more, took his Farewel of him, in those Words; My Child, The Lord JESUS receive thy Spirit. The Echo from him to it was,— And the Lord fit it for His Re­ception! He continued in Heaven-ward Aspira­tions, till towards the close of the Afternoon­Service, when he fell a smiling: And one asking him the Reason of it, he only made an Unintel­ligible Answer, which intimated as if an admira­ble Consort, in Singing the Praises of his Re­deemer now entertained him. So he expired; which I doubt not at all to express in the Terms [Page 32]I find in the Epitaph of a noted Person, Anima CHRISTI appetentissima, in CHRISTI Gremium evo­lavit.

Having made this brief Report, not without some View, that it may do something of that Good, which if he had lived, he would have done more Abundantly, I shall now add no more but This; GOD will Honour the YOUNG MEN, whom the Service of His CHRIST shall be dear unto!